Levi’s Kicks Rock Fans Out of Free Show for Not Wearing Its Jeans

If we had to choose a worst possible scenario for a corporate-sponsored indie rock show, we would lean heavily toward “brand forbids entry to fans not wearing its product.”

Yet that is, apparently, exactly what Levi’s told security guards to do at last week’s Haim/Sleigh Bells show in Brooklyn Bridge Park. While the company did apparently request that attendees wear Levi’s on its website, “concert industry observers” cited by the New York Daily News say they’ve never heard of a company going to such extremes to ensure what we’ll call “product placement.”

One attendee claimed that he “saw couples being turned away because the guy wore Levis but the woman had a skirt.”

The event did earn Levi’s some bad press, though the company has yet to issue an official response. Note to whoever manages events for this client: these sponsored shows are annoying enough without a Project Runway-ready jury at the gate. And how many people at any rock show pay attention to which jeans fellow attendees are wearing?

This is not what comes to mind when we hear the phrase “free concert.”